The arrangements were made, bargains settled, and Aurelia was surprised to learn she would be leaving in a matter of an hour or so.

"No point waiting around," the large man said gruffly. "More waiting is more risk."

She agreed mostly because she wanted to get out and back in again as soon as possible. The large man nominated the guy Aurelia had started to think of as "her" guy to lead her, the clone.

"What do I call you?" she asked him as he led her through a narrow tunnel to another storeroom.

"Bryn."

He wasn't exactly talkative, and she could use some conversation to take her mind off things. Oh, well, at least he was efficient. Once in the storeroom, he opened up boxes until he found a breathing suit in her size.

"Try it on," he said, leaving the room.

She struggled to get the suit on over her dress before remembering the uniform in her bag. Once more properly attired, the suit was easy to pull on. The material was light and flexible, though not quite as comfortable as everyday clothing fabric. The guy in black—Bryn, Aurelia corrected herself—came back and surveyed her, making her turn around so he could see her from all angles.

"Fine," he said. "Now pull the hood over your face."

She reached back and pulled the hood all the way forward so it covered her whole head, hearing a hiss as it sealed itself to the rest of the outfit.

"Press the button on your right shoulder," Bryn said.

Surprisingly, she could hear him fine, even inside the self-contained unit. She did as she was told and felt a stirring of breeze on her face as the suit began filtering the air around her and bringing it inside so that she could breathe.

Bryn nodded. "Press the button on the left shoulder," he ordered.

She did so, and the air filtration system stopped. She found she could now pull back the hood; it was no longer sealed.

"When the filter is on, you can't remove the hood," Bryn explained. "If the power button doesn't work, then try removing and then resealing the hood. If the manual remedy doesn't work, then pray to whoever it is you believe in, because there's nothing else you can do. Understood?"

She nodded, her stomach quivering.

"Don't don't rip or tear the suit in any way. The filter works only when there's a perfect seal."

Again she nodded.

"You might as well keep it on for now; you'll be out soon enough, and you'll need it."

He left once more, and Aurelia stuffed her dress into her bag and slung it over her shoulder before following him. He led her through more corridors until eventually she saw that the tunnel they were in had a curved wall. She guessed it was the edge of the dome. Several strides later, Bryn stopped. "In here." He pointed at a small gray door.

She went in, and he followed. A folding bed occupied one wall, a table and chair opposite it. Bryn closed the hatch behind them and pulled out the chair.

"Now what?" she asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Now, we wait."

He crossed his arms over his chest and looked as if he were quite happy just to sit in silence. Petulantly, Aurelia let the quiet stretch on. If that's what he wants, he can have it, sulky bastard. But the quiet scratched on her nerves, and she couldn't help but ask: "What are we waiting for?"

He grunted and sat up a little straighter. Aurelia thought he might have been falling asleep.

"We're waiting for the right time," he said.

Gods, it's like getting blood from a stone. "Which is when?" she prompted. "You know, this whole thing would be much faster if you just told me what was going to happen rather than making me force details out of you," she couldn't help but add.

He looked at her, his dark eyes gleaming, and for a second she thought that he might even smile. He didn't, but he did talk a little more. "Fine. We're going to wait here until about an hour before dawn—dome dawn, that is. That's when Workers start coming down, and the alarm system around the dome is switched off. Then we work fast. There's a window of time when the alarms are off but the Workers have yet to get all the way to the edge of the dome when we can get you out. That's what we're waiting for, okay?"

"Okay." She nodded. "Then what?"

"Then, I let you out, and you go off on your merry way."

"That's it?!" She hadn't expected a full escort or anything, but she'd at least expected to be pointed in the right direction.

Bryn shrugged, slumping back into his chair. "We've no idea where your friend is. Once you're out, my part of the deal is over."

Aurelia positioned herself on the bed so she leaned against the wall behind her. She hadn't really thought much further ahead than getting past the dome.

"Are there going to be people there to ask?" she said after a while.

"A few. Listen, I'll put you as close to others as I can, alright? But no promises. Now, you should catch some sleep, and I should definitely nap, so enough of the small talk, right?"

She kept quiet while the sound of his rasping breathing filled the room. Bryn had no trouble sleeping, but Aurelia didn't really think sleep was going to be on her agenda tonight. She tried desperately to come up with some kind of plan, but what was there to plan? She had no idea what she was getting into, no idea where the hell Nicholas was going to be, and didn't even know what the world out there looked like. Eventually she gave up and lay on the bed, letting Bryn's breathing hypnotize her.

It had been around forty-five minutes or so before a snort and a groan from Bryn roused her from her trance.

"Almost time," he said.

He must have some kind of built-in time reader, Aurelia thought, stretching and sitting up. Bryn was rubbing his face and yawning, and she again saw the thick scars on his wrists.

"How did you get your number off?" she asked, knowing it was a sensitive subject but figuring she might as well ask. She knew from Nicholas that removing clone numbers could trigger alarm systems and even death in a clone.

Bryn eyed her. "There's a lot you don't know, kid. There's a lot of things possible out which aren't possible under the dome."

He stood and opened the door, looking out into the corridor. "Come on," he said and left.

She trailed behind, skipping a step or so to keep up. They walked around the curve of the corridor, and the tunnels were still quiet.

"How often do sec Workers come down here?" she asked, curious.

Bryn shrugged. "They don't usually. They trust us to take care of things."

Huh? She'd assumed the black guys were, well, on the wrong side of the system, so to speak. "Why'd they trust you?"

"We have an understanding," was all he said.

"But don't they stop you from taking people out?" Aurelia pressed.

"Look, things need to get in . . . things need to go away; it's the way it is. We're the connectors. We take care of what needs to be taken care of so people don't get their hands dirty." He paused for a moment. "Things aren't always black and white, whatever you might think. It's in everyone's best interests to allow certain items and even people, to pass through the dome every now and again."

He could only be talking about corruption; there were definitely valuable resources available on the lunar surface, but this didn't surprise her as much as it might have done a few weeks before.

Bryn stopped, listening.

"There," he said, holding up a finger.

Aurelia heard a small click, and the air around her seemed to move.

"Alarms are off; it's time to go. Hurry."

He took off at a jog, and Aurelia followed. Rounding a corner, he stopped again, squatting. She could barely make out a joint in the concrete floor, and Bryn slid a knife from his boot, popped it into the cleft, and lifted a slab. A small hole yawned beneath them.

"There's a ladder," he said. "Go first."

She didn't exactly have any option, so she stepped off the lip of the hole and found the first metal rung.

"Hurry," he hissed.

Once she was down a few steps, she felt the ladder shake as Bryn stood on a rung. Then he closed the trapdoor, and they were in darkness.

"Keep going; you'll know when you hit the ground."

She breathed steadily, settling into the rhythm of her descent, and before she knew it, she felt firm ground under her feet. She moved away from the ladder, letting Bryn jump the remaining few steps. He then pulled out a light, cutting a thin slice through the darkness. He took off at a jog again, and Aurelia followed, too occupied with action now to worry about what was to come.

Finally, Bryn stopped in front of what looked like a round metal hatch.

"We're here," he said.

She nodded, taking a moment to catch her breath.

"Remember what I told you about the suit. I'm going to open the hatch, and you'll jump out fast. I can't let the vacuum empty the corridor, okay?"

"Got it."

"You'll be close to an encampment, a few people I know who we've let out. They're traders. Make your way there; you should be able to see it to the south. They're your best bet for information."

Now he was full of information. Great. She might have actually slept earlier if he'd told her all this before. She took a deep breath. "Thank you."

He nodded. "I won't be seeing you again, I think."

She hoped he wasn't implying she wasn't going to make it back again, but she didn't have time to question him; his hands were already on the wheel of the hatch. Hurriedly, she checked her breathing suit. Satisfied it was properly closed, she pulled the hood over her head.

"Don't take it off unless you see someone else without one," Bryn advised, his hands turning the wheel.

It was the last thing he said to her. The hatch screeched open, and he gave her a push. She climbed up onto the sill and jumped, hearing the slam of metal behind her. On her hands and knees, she looked around. She was out.